


The Sign

by kagstsukki (SkylarkOfTheMoon)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Oikawa Rarepair Week 2017, Post-Canon, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 09:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11575680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkylarkOfTheMoon/pseuds/kagstsukki
Summary: In their world, there's a thing called the Soulmate Phenomenon. On the 25th birthday of the younger one of the soulmates, fate brings them together in the same area. Then, something wonderfully unexpected happens, a sign that of sorts that shows that they were meant to be. It can be flower petals suddenly raining down on them or an unexpected meteor shower visible only to them, and then part of you will just know that it's meant to be.





	The Sign

**Author's Note:**

> This is two days late for Oikawa's birthday but here it is~  
> unbeta-ed af because i just wanna post it already

_July 19  
9:57 pm_

The apartment is quiet except for the sound of turning pages. A half-eaten box of takeout sits on the coffee table, along with a pile of books ranging from gardening manuals to romance novels. 

Tooru lies on the sofa, one arm behind his head as a pillow and the other holding up a paperback novel. His glasses are perched on his nose, brows are furrowed as he reads the inane love story before him. It ends just as he expected—a huge declaration of love, a kiss and happy ever after. With a sigh, he tosses the book with the rest of the pile on the table and grabs another book.

If it were any other night, he would be working his night shift at the hospital right now. Unfortunately, somebody must have reported him to the higher-ups that he's been taking too much overtime these past days. The next thing he knows he's being forced to take his unused vacation leave. 

He makes it to the second page of his second book when there's a knock on the door. His eyes flicker to the wall clock. It's already 10 pm. There's only one person who would visit him this late on a Wednesday night. With a grumble, he gets off the sofa, limbs aching from not moving from his position for the past few hours. There's still knocking on the door, insistent and loud. 

Tooru swings the door open and a hand knocks into his forehead. "Ow!" 

"Hey," Issei greets, smiling in faint amusement at him. "May I come in?"

Tooru glares up at him. "It's late."

"That doesn't really answer my question." Issei replies easily to Tooru's annoyance."Are you busy?"

Tooru relents, stepping aside to let him in. "Not really." Issei steps past him, mumbling 'pardon the intrusion' and looks at Tooru's messy living room—the takeout bags, the books, the blanket on the sofa. 

"How's the vacation leave going?"

"I'm bored out of my mind." Tooru starts cleaning up, shoving takeout boxes in the trash can. "How's the ward? Did everybody miss me while I was gone?"

"They're enjoying the peace and quiet of your absence." Issei helps him out, picking up books and carrying him to the bookshelf. "Reception was boring without you though. I have nobody to gossip with."

"I knew you'd miss me," Tooru says cheekily. "Is that why you're here? You need your daily does of Oikawa-san?"

"I guess you can say that." Issei steps forward, one hand raised. The gesture is familiar and Tooru flashbacks to that fateful day months ago, the last time Issei visited him. He faintly recalled the warm hand at the back of his neck, and warmer lips meeting his own, before Issei left with a cryptic smile. Mattsun never visited him at his apartment again since then, not until tonight.

The hand lands on top of his head, unlike the last time and Tooru looks up at him, curious. 

"You're not busy tomorrow, right?"

He's not. His 'vacation' is in effect until next week, but for one brief moment Tooru considers lying, make up an excuse. Some part of him wants to run away but there's another part that's telling him to stay and see where this goes. 

"I'm not busy," he says, calming himself down. "Why do you ask?"

"Will you go with me somewhere? Right now?"

"Right now?" Tooru repeats. 

"Yes." Issei fidgets. Then, he starts rambling, something Tooru has noticed he always does when he's nervous. "I mean, I understand if you're busy or if you don't want to go anywhere because it's your vacation after all and I can always reschedule. It's not that imp-"

"No, no. It's fine," Tooru cuts him off, trying to placate him. Issei snaps his mouth shut. "Just let me get ready, yeah?"

-

Tooru rode in Issei's car before, it's an old dark blue minivan he's had since high school. He remembers road trips with the team taken in this car, the drives back to Miyagi during holidays, getting scolded every time he rolls the window open ("You'll let the cold out Tooru!" "That's not how it works, Mattsun!). However, the night air is cold and there's only a few cars on the streets at this time so Issei indulges him this once. 

Tooru has one arm lying on the open window. He watches as they move past the grays and the bright lights of the Tokyo buildings before transitioning into the greens and browns of the more rural side of Tokyo. 

"Hey Mattsun." The driver grunts in assent. "Where are we heading?"

"It's a secret." Issei smiles slightly. Despite the uncertainty of their destination, Tooru trusts him. He taps his fingers on the steering wheel, lips pursed as he looks out at the stretch of road before him. "Do you trust me?"

"I do," Tooru assures him. "You're one of my best friends, of course I trust you."

"Speaking of best friends, have you heard from Makki and Iwa?"

They spend the next minutes trading stories about their friends. Hanamaki is studying grad school overseas while Iwaizumi is traveling as a freelance photographer. Somehow both of them ended up being based in Californiaand sharing an aparment together. Perhaps it's the absence of both of their best friends that allowed Tooru and Issei grow closer. Working at the same hospital also helps, and their apartments are near enough that sleepovers are frequent. It's as if they never left high school. 

They end up at a dirt road, surrounded by forests and small hills at both sides. Issei starts driving uphill. When Tooru looks out the open window he sees tire tracks on the earth so he can assume that this path has been taken before. 

After a few minutes of driving uphill the surface flattens out into a small clearing. Issei kills the engine and gestures for Tooru to get out of the car. 

When Tooru climbs out the first thing he notices is that the clearing ends into a steep valley that overlooks over the forests they were driving through earlier. Tokyo lays ahead, bright with the lights of bilboards and office buildings, but his attention is on a different sort of lights. The sky above him spreads into an endless sea of inky blackness dotted by thousands of white speckles of stars. 

"Mattsun, are you taking me stargazing?" Tooru asks, delight in his voice. He turns around and his mouth falls open. 

In the short time Tooru has taken to admire the little hideout, Issei has pulled open the back of the minivan. It's too dark to make anything out, but he can see that the back seats have been pulled up to make space. 

"Mattsun?" Tooru asks, stepping closer in curiosity. He notices a small remote in Issei's hand and there's a hint of mischief in Issei's eyes when he presses the button. 

Fairy lights flicker to life, illuminating the back area of the car. A large blanket covers the floor, pillows are piled on it, along with a small picnic basket and a cooler. The gold light of the lights catches Issei's eyes, reflecting the fondness in them that Tooru has never seen before, or rather, he has noticed them but this is the first time he's seeing it up close. 

Issei reaches a hand out, trails his fingers along Tooru's cheek. "Advanced Happy Birthday, Tooru."

A grin breaks out on Tooru's face before realization dawns on him. "You're the one who reported me! Oh my god, you suggested that I take my vacation leave, didn't you?"

Issei shrugs, sitting down on the blanket and patting down the spot next to him. "Yeah. I didn't want you working on your own birthday. Sorry for the deception."

Tooru snorts. "You're sorry? Only a few people can deceive me like that. I'm quite impressed."

He sits down next to Issei, bumping their knees together. "We could have just celebrated in the hospital—order cake, gossip about the new interns, stole from Yamada-sensei's liquor cabinet and get drunk in the parking lot. You didn't have to do all this for me, y'know?"

"I wanted to do this." Issei bumps his knees right back. "Plus, I kind of wanted you for myself."

Tooru can feel his face heat up, his eyes go from Issei's face to where their knees are touching. "O-oh."

Issei doesn't take back what he says. He reaches over and grabs the picnic basket. "Shall we?"

-

The picnic is pretty simple—chips, beer, sandwiches made with milk bread. They video call Iwaizumi and Hanamaki in California and even if they both grumble at the early wake-up call, they greet Tooru with the same exasperated fond tone they have for the past years. Their present is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Tooru pesters them to reveal it until Hanamaki just laughs and hangs up on them. 

Issei gathers up their leftovers and stashes it in the picnic basket before tossing it to the front seats. Tooru is lying down on the blanket, legs swinging on the edge of the car and a satisfied smile on his lips. Issei lies down next to him, clasping his hands on his stomach and looking out to the lights of the city. 

"Great view," Tooru comments. "Great friends, great food, great surprises-" Tooru lies on his side to face Issei. "-and a really great birthday. Thank you, Mattsun." 

"You're welcome, Tooru." He brushes Tooru's bangs from his face. Tooru leans in to the touch, smiling softly and eyes fluttering close. "Are you sleepy?"

"Weeeeeelll, you did drag me out in the middle of the night. I haven't had my beauty sleep."

"It's not like you need it. You're already beautiful anyway." Tooru's eyes snap open and he looks at Issei pensively. Issei stares back, already used to being under his former captain's sharp gaze, even after they've already graduated. 

"Mattsun..." he murmurs. He looks like he just realized something he missed out on. 

Issei suddenly withdraws, sitting up and almost hitting his head. Tooru also sits up, confusion on his face as he watches Issei open the cooler. He's rambling again, nervousness evident in his movements. "I got you a cake. Well, technically it's a cupcake since I can't afford a real one. It's vanilla-flavored by the way and-"

Issei keeps on talking as he pulls out a mini cake with a small alien printed on top and a single candle. He's avoiding Tooru's gaze, going silent as he hands it over to Tooru who looks down at it with innocent wonder. 

Issei's eyes flicker to his wristwatch. It's 11:59 pm. He fumbles to pull out the lighter in his pocket, dropping the remote for the lights and accidentally turning off the fairy lights. "Shit, wait, I'll just--"

"Hey, you don't have to be so nervous." Tooru lays a hand on his shoulder, stalling his movements. "Just light the candle, yeah?'

Issei does and the single orb of light casts a glow over Tooru's face. His smile looks softer, brown eyes looking at Issei with adoration in his eyes. Issei wonders if the adoration is Tooru's own or if it's just reflecting his own. They share a smile over the candle and he thinks, maybe it's both of them. 

"Happy 25th birthday, Tooru."

Tooru blows out the candle and stars start shooting in the sky. 

-

In their world, there's a thing called the Soulmate Phenomenon. On the 25th birthday of the younger one of the soulmates, fate brings them together in the same area. Then, something wonderfully unexpected happens, a sign that of sorts that shows that they were meant to be. 

Tooru thinks back to Makki and Iwa-chan's Sign. It was 8am on Iwaizumi's birthday. He arrived at California for a photography convention of sorts and called up Hanamaki to catch up. When they met at Hanamaki's university and saw each other for the first time in a long time, flower petals started falling from the trees above them, drowning the both of them in violet petals. 

He's happy for them, but every time he sees their posts of each other on Instagram, he can't help but wonder what his own Sign will be like. 

-

 _July 20  
00:01 am_

Now he doesn't have to wonder because it's happening before him right now. 

Tooru watches the shooting stars, mouth open wide and eyes twinkling blue. The black sky he saw earlier has now turned a dark shade of blue highlighted by teals and purples and white shooting stars. 

He follows an astronomy page that alerts him of meteor showers and eclipses so he can free up some time to view them. The stars shooting across the sky before him was definitely not in that day's report. 

Tooru turns back to Issei who is looking up at the sky in awe. He climb out of the car, looking at the sky with sparks of hope in his eyes. Tooru's heart thud against his chest as a warm feeling stirs up in his stomach. 

"Tooru." Issei's lip are twitching like he's trying hard to hold back a smile. "Tooru, do you know what this means?"

Instead of answering, Tooru holds out a hand. When Issei takes it, the warmth in Tooru's stomach spreads to the rest of his body right down to where their hands connect. Issei's heart calms down for once that night, at ease with the moment and the person in front of him because he knows. 

The way Oikawa's smile gets wider, wide enough to hurt, tells Issei he feels the same way. 

"Did you know this will happen?" Tooru asks, voice borderline hysterical "Is that why you took me out here?"

Issei shakes his head, feeling a bit hysterical himself. "Nobody ever knows how they'll meet their soulmate, Tooru. I just...took my chance."

Tooru pulls himself up with Issei's hand and steps closer to him. He peers up at Issei's eyes, seeing them a bit glazed. "Are you crying?"

"I was really hoping fate would choose me, you know? Even if we didn't end up as soulmates, even if that meteor shower right now didn't happen, you would still meet the person that would make you undeniably happy and I would have been fine with that. I choose your happiness over mine." Tooru doesn't know if he's ever been loved like this before, passionately and selflessly. The kiss from a few months ago makes sense now. It had been Issei's birthday. In spite of his denial earlier, part of him must have known it would lead to this. "And now, against all odds, that person is me. I can't process it because I never thought this would happe--"

Tooru leans up and kisses him on the lips. He pulls back seconds later and Issei looks dumbstruck. "Has anyone ever told you you ramble when you get nervous?" He presses their foreheads together. "I'm glad it's you. Part of me was hoping it would be you and I can't think of any other person I'd rather be with right now."

Issei exhales, shaky. He presses back against Tooru, hands coming up to cup both of his cheeks. Tooru holds his wrists gently, looking into eyes that look at him with such tenderness. The two of them stand there on the little clearing, lit up by the stars. 

-

Tooru thinks back to his romance novel from earlier, about the predictability of endings—a huge declaration of love, a kiss, and an unknown happy ever after that awaits them. He thinks about Issei, the kiss at his apartment months ago that sounds like a confession anyway, the kiss under shooting stars, and the stretch of road before them as they drive back home. For someone who doesn't like cliche romance novels as he does, he couldn't have predicted that he'll be living in one. 

"Ready to go home?" Issei asks as the car makes it way out of the country road and into busy city streets. 

His day has been a cliche up to this point, what's one more?

"I already am," Tooru answers, earning himself a laugh and a squeeze to his hand. 

He's looking forward to the rest of his birthdays.


End file.
